3 babies die in Bhopal as hospital suffers 11-hr blackout

Bhopal: Three newborns died after a night-long power failure at a government hospital in Maoist-hit Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh on Sunday. The crib deaths come just a few weeks after a dog snatched a stillborn child from the labour room of a hospital in the state's Satna district.

Balaghat district hospital, adjudged by the state health commissioner only a fortnight ago as offering the best maternity services in the area, plunged into darkness at 7pm on Sunday. It has a generator, but no one has been able to explain why it wasn't used. Power returned 11 hours later -at 6am on Monday.

The district administration has ordered an inquiry. During a nightlong power outage at a government hospital in Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh on Sunday, a rumour circulated that three newborns had died. A little later, there were allegations that three more infants had died in the ICU and that the night staff had handed the bodies to the parents and told them to leave the hospital before daybreak.

However, officials confirmed only two deaths and denied there had been neglect.

"Two deaths were reported from the district hospital yesterday (Sunday) night. One child was stillborn and the other died of asphyxia. We cannot blame power cuts, and there was no negligence on the part of the hospital staff," the Balaghat chief medical and health officer (CMHO), Dr K K Khosla, told TOI on Monday.

Birth asphyxia, or neonatal asphyxia, is a medical condition resulting from a newborn being deprived of oxygen.

The district administration has ordered an inquiry into the matter.

Congress and BJP workers staged a demonstration outside the hospital demanding a police case be registered against the administration.